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comments:

Having tracked the Indult and S.P. statistics for quite a long time, and in great detail, I find this statement of Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos to be quite beyond belief.

He may be expressing an ideal, but I can't see how it can come to pass in current circumstances, for, presumably, he doesn't plan to make England and Wales an exceptional case. Consider the following:

(1) Currently, entire countries with large Catholic populations do not even have one single T.L.M. on an every-Sunday basis, or even on any basis. These include countries with Catholic majorities, such as Portugal, Uruguay, Malta, Argentina, Bolivia, East Timor, the Congo P.D.R., Equitorial Guinea, Burundi, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Croatia, Belize, Haïti, the Dominican Republic--I can go on an on.

Mexico, with the second-largest Catholic population on this planet, has only one Sunday T.L.M., in the large City of Monterrey--and it was only approved after S.P. Outside Brazil, there are hardly any regularised Gregorian Masses in Latin America--on any basis--and, yet, half the faithful live there.

(2) Those supporting the old Mass are, in my estimation, at most, one-fifth of one per cent of the population of the faithful throughout the world.

(3) Even in countries such as England and Wales, what information we do have suggests that only about 20% might prefer the Gregorian Mass to the Bugnini Mass.

(4) At the moment, there is a critical shortage of priests. Some priests in France superintend five or more parishes and each parish has a Mass only once a month. Where will the needed celebrants come from, Cardinal Castrillón's broom closet?

I think that the Cardinal is expressing a long-term papal ideal. Its intention is to change the expectations of the local bishops. If the local bishops come to expect a radical restoration in every parish, their resistance to the much more modest provisions of S.P. will disappear.

Also, I think that this is preparing those bishops for the announcement for the exempt international and personal ordinary structure which is coming for tradition. The Cardinal has already said that a non-Catholic bishop who represents "other bishops" and priests and faithful wants to reconcile so as to celebrate the Gregorian Rite exclusively. That likely refers to all or a large part of the Polish National Catholic Church or some group of Old Catholic (Utrecht) Bishops. Whoever he is referring to could be erected into a society of apostolic life which, in turn, could be incorporated into the international diocese or apostolic administration. The Transalpine Redemptorists and I.B.P. could also be incorated into it.

At any rate, this is good news, because it shows us that Rome is heading firmly in the right direction.

To answer the last poster here, I think that the Pope has a plan in mind and that the P.C.E.D. will implement it one step at a time. However, the plan could take a very long time to realise. We should, I suppose, control our excitement and look more closely at the Cardinal's words. He did not say that the old Mass would be introducted to every parish on an every-Sunday basis or any regular basis, for that matter. He only said that it should be introduced on some basis so as to benefit faithful who have never known it, and this would make it known to them.

I suspect that they will start with a the long-awaited clarification of S.P., and might publish that on 7th July of this year. Then we might expect an instruction in regard to seminary training, that priests be trained in Latin and be taught how to celebrate the Gregorian Rite of Mass.

Under S.P., if even three faithful express a wish to assist at the Traditional Latin Mass, that should be accommodated. It may be that further instructions will ask bishops to send priests to F.S.S.P. and other training sessions to achieve this.

But I think that the real importance of this bombshell is its psychological effect. If local bishops suddenly come to see the Gregorian Mass as a parochial norm, it will be much easier for Rome to 'sell' an international diocese for tradition. Instead of being an intrusion into episcopal authority, in light of S.P., such a structure could be cast as an auxiliary agency. The formula would be something like this: In order to ensure a better distribution of human and other resources needed to ensure this spiritual benefit for the faithful, we hereby . . . (blah, blah, blah) erect an exempt international and personal apostolic adminstration or diocese or archdiocese into which various traditionalists socieities and orders may be incorporated, and which can also form its own diocesan priests, &c.;

The indication is that something like this is coming. Once again, the same Cardinal has already said that a non-Catholic bishop, representing not only clerics and laics but even other bishops, has already applied to reconcile with Rome AS A RESULT of S.P. This cannot refer to the TAC Anglicans, who have been trying to reconcile for other reasons and with a different liturgy, not ours.

It must be some group from or all of the Polish National Catholic Church or a group of Old Catholics. They obviously won't want to come in under the local Mahony bishops.

The Transalpine Redemptorists and Institute of the Good Shepherd could be incorportated into the new structure, just as the same Cardinal offered for the S.S.P.X eight years ago.

This is something to pray for. By no means would it give us a paradise on earth. On the contrary, the new structure would be short of resources for many years, and most of us would rely on Masses offered in our local parishes. But it would ensure an entrenchment of tradition and long-term liberty for the Mass of the Ages.

To the anon poster who believes that it is "nutty" to offer the Gregorian Rite where it is not asked for, I say, it does not matter if people ask for it.The Gregorian Mass offered with only the Alter Christus and no one assisting is infinitely more efficacious and meritorious that a Novus Ordo Mass offered in the presence of 5000.It is the Gregorian Mass in itself, the solemn and sacrificial missal and rubrics that effects much greater change in the world.For the Mass to be effective in the world it is not needed that the faithful are present.It is desirable, but not essential for the Mystical corpus.The Gregorian Mass has this potential over the NO attended by the masses.God bless you